WWF Wrestlemania V
Venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Date: 02/04/89
Attendance: 18,946
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura
For the second year in a row Wrestlemania took place at Trump Plaza
in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was headlined by the huge showdown between
Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan for the World Wrestling Federation
Heavyweight Championship. Could Wrestlemania V improve on the previous year's disappointing
show?
Review
To the surprise of many the opening contest between Hercules and
King Haku was fairly respectable. Hercules went over in order to gain a measure
of revenge against his former manager Bobby Heenan... The Twin Towers defeated
The Rockers in a classic example of how two contrasting styles can produce a
good match. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty sold wonderfully for the big men,
the best example being Akeem's clothesline on Michaels which looks as awesome
today as it did back then... Ted Dibiase and Brutus Beefcake battled to a pointless
double count out and while the ending was lame at least the match itself was
decent enough... The Bushwackers upset the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in a
terrible match... Mr Perfect, who was fast on the rise in the WWF, made the
Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) look his equal before taking the win with the
Perfect-Plex in a good little bout... Run DMC's performance of the
"Wrestlemania Rap" in the ring went down like a lead balloon. It
seemed the Trump Plaza crowd just didn't get it... The tag team title was
defended under handicap rules as Mr Fuji teamed with the Powers of Pain to face
champions Demolition. This was a big feud that had been going on for months and
saw Fuji double cross Demolition at Survivor Series 1988 to join forces with
the Powers of Pain. This was the big showdown with the title on the line but it
was never going to be a classic. Fuji was the man who took the fall for his
team which, while making sense in terms of storyline, was a bit of a cop out as
the Powers didn't have to lose to their rivals...
 |
| The Rockers nail the Big Boss Man with a double dropkick |
Dino Bravo beat Ronnie Garvin
in a quick match which was rubbish. Before the opening bell sounded and with
both Bravo and Garvin standing in the ring, Jimmy Snuka made his return by
strolling to the ring and taking a bow. Strange... Match quality took a big
step in the right direction next as the Brain Busters took on Strike Force who
had recently reformed. However Rick Martel walked out on Tito Santana who had
nailed him accidently with a flying forearm during the match. Santana was left
to face the Busters alone which naturally ended in defeat. Martel would go on
to be a successful mid-card heel following the Strike Force split... A special
edition of Piper's Pit took place in the ring featuring Brother Love, Morton
Downey Jr (a chain smoking chat show host) and of course Rowdy Roddy Piper. The
segment went on too long, was only mildly funny and the crowd just weren't
interested... Backstage Hulk Hogan gave what I consider to be one of his best
interviews as he prepared to face the Macho Man in the main event. Hogan
recapped the whole Mega Powers saga brilliantly in his usual over-the-top
style... Another big feud came to a head as Jake The Snake Roberts battled
Andre the Giant in a match refereed by Big John Studd. Towards the end of the
bout Roberts attempted to bring Damien into the ring but Ted Dibiase ran down
to attack Roberts and steal Damien who was still in the bag. Roberts chased
down Dibiase and retrieved Damien while Andre attacked Studd in the ring.
Roberts sent Andre packing, well Damien did anyway, and Roberts was declared
the winner by disqualification. The match was dire and the ending settled
nothing which makes you wonder why they even bothered...
The Hart Foundation
beat Rhythm & Blues in a decent match where the Harts thwarted the heels
attempt to use Jimmy Hart's megaphone as a weapon and Bret Hart decked the Honky
Tonk Man with it for the win. You may have noticed in other reviews that I
don't like to see faces cheating to win unless it's justified or in retaliation
but as the heels own dirty tactics backfired on them here I have no problems
with this finish... Ravishing Rick Rude upset the Ultimate Warrior to win the
Intercontinental Championship in Warrior's best match of his career up to that
point, arguably the only good match of his career up to that point! Gorilla
Monsoon and Jesse Ventura did a superb job of forcing home the importance of
the Intercontinental Title, a title which sadly the WWE have ensured doesn't
mean so much these days. Selling like his life depended on it, Rude's
performance was fantastic which in turn made the Warrior's offense look equally
good. The finish came when Bobby Heenan hung on to the Warrior's leg from
outside of the ring preventing him completing a suplex and also from kicking
out as Rude landed on top of him. The result was a big surprise and after the
decision Warrior took his frustrations out on Heenan giving him a botched
Gorilla Press Slam injuring "The Brain"...
 |
| Mr Perfect battles The Blue Blazer |
 |
| The Ultimate Warrior clotheslines Ravishing Rick Rude |
Bad News Brown and Hacksaw
Jim Duggan fought to a double disqualification in an awful slugfest that
achieved nothing... The Red Rooster gained his revenge on an injured Bobby
Heenan in a very quick match. Perhaps Heenan was unable to do any more or maybe
they were short on time but either way it didn't do much for the Rooster... Hulk
Hogan defeated Randy Savage in a very good main event to regain the WWF
Heavyweight Championship. It was the climax of a superb year long storyline
which started and ended in the middle of the ring at Trump Plaza. Elizabeth was
an integral part of the story but thankfully she was removed from the equation
mid-match enabling the two rivals to fight to a finish with a clear winner.
Savage's performance was excellent as the insanely jealous outgoing champion
and it was also one of Hogan's best performances of his WWF career. Hogan won
cleanly and decisively which was the right decision on the big stage but don't
feel too bad for Savage, he made good money with Hogan in the role of
challenger over the summer of 1989.
 |
| The Mega Powers are about to explode |
Overall
As with Wrestlemania IV the show suffered from being in front of a
largely non-wrestling crowd and while they were a bit more receptive for the
1989 card, most notably for the main event, there were still long periods of
silence throughout the show. The card itself was a touch better than the
previous year but again there were too many poor or average matches which made
the show seem overly long. The match that everyone wanted to see was Savage
versus Hogan and thankfully it delivered in the ring as well as at the box
office thanks to the tremendous build and execution of the feud. Wrestlemania V
drew 767,000 buys which was a massive number especially at a time when
pay-per-view availability was still quite limited. That number would not be
surpassed until some ten years later at Wrestlemania 15.
For more on the Mega Powers story click here.
Results
1 Hercules pinned King Haku (6:57) **
2 The Twin Towers def The Rockers by pinfall (8:02) ***
3 Brutus Beefcake fought Ted Dibiase to a double count out (10:01)
**1/4
4 The Bushwackers def The Fabulous Rougeaus by pinfall (9:10) DUD
5 Mr Perfect pinned The Blue Blazer (5:38) ***
6 Demolition (c) def The Powers of Pain & Mr Fuji by pinfall to
retain the WWF Tag Team Title (8:20) *
7 Dino Bravo pinned Ronnie Garvin (3:06) 1/4
8 The Brain Busters def Strike Force by pinfall (9:17) **3/4
9 Jake Roberts def Andre the Giant by disqualification (9:44) DUD
10 The Hart Foundation def Rhythm & Blues by pinfall (7:40)
**1/2
11 Rick Rude pinned The Ultimate Warrior (c) to win the WWF
Intercontinental Title (9:36) ***
12 Jim Duggan & Bad News Brown fought to a double
disqualification (3:49) DUD
13 The Red Rooster pinned Bobby Heenan (0:32) SQ
14 Hulk Hogan pinned Randy Savage (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight
Title (17:54) ***3/4
Rating
23.50/70 = 33.57%
Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
*** Good
** OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1
min)
